Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsIt was great, until it wasn't
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2024
I absolutely loved this thing. Not only was it useful for the occasional weekend excursion, but also as a way to top up my phone or earbuds case anywhere in the house or at work without being tethered to the wall by a USB cable.
Its considerable mass means it's not exactly pocket-friendly, but it's portable enough for what it is (there are plenty of other options if you need something that fits in a pocket). However, its immense capacity more than made up for any downsides presented by its size and weight.
I really liked the color screen, and the detailed info it provided (power input/output for each port, battery health, unit temperature, number of battery cycles, and total accumulated power input and output). It was nice knowing exactly how much charge was left in the bank as opposed to relying on a small row of LEDs to indicate its battery level.
Unfortunately, after just over a year of use, it is no longer functioning properly. The battery health dropped to 5% (from 95%) almost overnight with only 65 total battery cycles. I first noticed there was an issue when charging my phone would use more than half of the power bank's capacity when it used to only use 25-30%. Then I noticed that, when charging the bank, it would show that it was charging at just 0.1W, yet the battery percentage would go from 70% to Full in just a few minutes. Now, it runs out of juice before it can even come close to charging up a phone. All of this happened within a matter of days. As I said before, it only has 65 cycles on it (I thought lithium batteries were supposed to last 500+ cycles?). I've only used an Anker 313 45W USB C power brick to charge it up, and I've tried my best to keep it between 20% and 80% charge to prolong its life. Sadly, my efforts were all for nothing.
I no longer trust it to safely charge my devices, so it's now just a paperweight. I know it supposedly has a 2-year warranty, but at this point, I'm not even sure that I want to bother with getting a replacement. I've got an older, Anker Powercore III 10K as a backup that still works fine and holds a charge as well as it did on day one. It only charges at up to 20W, but it slides easily into a pocket AND it has wireless charging built-in.
I'm more disappointed than anything, as I really liked how (when new) it could charge my phone, watch, and earbuds at the same time with enough juice in the tank to do that 2-3 more times. It could even give my ROG Ally a nice boost, if needed, though the Ally being such a battery hog would drain it completely in about an hour.
I had just started to become a fan of the Anker brand after using this, the Powercore III 10K, and the 313 charger, but this experience has definitely given me some pause. I'll probably give the model above this a shot as a replacement, but if it also fails prematurely, then I'll have to find a new brand for my power bank needs.